Chapter 557
Chapter 557
Rayna knew well the furthest Carl had been recently was the residential area where he jogged. Apart from that, he rarely went out. Thus, Rayna guessed he was bored. Smiling, she agreed, “All right. Let's go shopping today.”
“Hooray!” Carl cheered. He quickly took a shower and changed into a fresh set of clothes.
Rayna was worried some shops would not allow dogs to enter, so she decided to leave Lucky at home.
Soon, Carl and Rayna left the house. As they stood in the elevator, Carl realized her stomach was bulging underneath her shirt. “Ms. Rayna, your stomach looks bigger than before. Are you giving birth soon?” he asked.
“Not so soon. I still have three more months to go.” Rayna caressed her belly.
Only then did she realize it had indeed gotten much bigger. Even the clothes she wore in the past could not conceal her bulging belly anymore.
However, she was still as slim as ever. All the nutrients she consumed were absorbed by the babies.
Rayna lowered her gaze and sighed without realizing it, wondering how Jessica and the baby were doing.
“Stop sighing already, Ms. Rayna. You'll affect my wife's appearance. Everyone says babies will be born ugly if the mother's too depressed,” said Carl seriously.
Rayna side-eyed him. “Exactly how good-looking do you think you are? How dare you be picky?”
“No, no. I'm not being picky. I'm just reminding you to be careful. When you go into labor, I'll definitely stay by your side and watch my wife come into the world.” Carl grinned while touching her belly.
He sighed and continued enviously, “You're so lucky to be bearing triplets, Ms. Rayna. How I wish my mommy were as lucky as you. It's so boring being the only child at home. When Mommy and Daddy are back after finishing their work abroad, I'll make sure to not pester Mommy. I'll let them hang out more often so that I'll finally get some younger siblings.” Carl had already come up with a plan.
His heartwarming wish filled Rayna's heart with anguish.
However, she had no choice but to suppress those feelings and pat his head with a subtle smile. “They're really busy with their work, but they never stopped thinking of or loving you.”
Carl thought about it and muttered with a frown, “I can also accept it if they bring back a little sister they gave birth to over there.”
“All right. Let's stop thinking about that. What do you want to eat later?” Rayna changed the topic, smiling.
“Let's have pasta. I want lots of grilled chicken, too!”
Carl still remembered how Curtis had played favoritism back then by not giving him a single piece of grilled chicken.
The response sent Rayna bursting into laughter. “Sure.”
The two of them took a cab to the mall and found a restaurant selling pasta on the underground level. Hence, they ordered two portions of pasta and some snacks.
Rayna did not have much of an appetite that day, so she only had some pasta.
After breakfast, she brought him around on a shopping spree, starting from the underground level.
To cheer him up, she bought arcade tokens worth a few hundred at the arcade and played with him to his heart's content.
Carl was surprisingly great at arcade games. He caught every doll at the claw machine and even won about two hundred tokens with only a few tokens from the token pusher.
They were exhausted after playing all the games there. Not only did they fail to spend a single token from what they originally had, they even won another thousand tokens and a large bag of dolls.
All the tokens were exchanged for cash. Meanwhile, since Carl could not carry such a large bag of dolls home with him, he brought them to the arcade's entrance and sold them. Sometimes, he would even give out some to others for free.
Rayna, on the other hand, merely watched him the entire time.
She could not help but raise her brow when she saw him smile sweetly at everyone and give the dolls to cute girls for free.
“Look at you, treating everyone so nicely. Will you become a playboy in the future?” she questioned out of nowhere.
“Playboy? What's a playboy, Ms. Rayna?” Carl looked up at her with a puzzled expression.
In response, Rayna waved her hands to dismiss him. “It's nothing. I just have a feeling you'll become a gamer in the future.”
“No way! I want to be like my dad when I grow up. I want to be a soldier!” said Carl firmly.
Rayna put a hand to her forehead, feeling embarrassed.
I must've lost my mind just now. Carl's such a cute and smart boy. Just look at how determined he looked when he announced his desire to be a soldier in the future. He'll grow to be a man who spoils his girlfriend. There's no way he'll fool around.
Soon, Carl sold off the bag of dolls and earned another few hundred. At that, Rayna gave him the one thousand they had exchanged using the tokens and let him spend the money however he wanted.
Upon reaching the children's clothing store, Rayna helped him to pick a few sets of clothes.
It was already two o'clock in the afternoon by the time they exited the mall. Rayna was rather tired, but she felt happy to see Carl in a good mood.
“Let's go to a Horbanian restaurant to have lunch. Then, we can go to wherever you want.”
To her surprise, Carl shook his head. “Let's go home after lunch. You're still pregnant. You must be tired after being out for such a long time.” Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.
Rayna was moved to see how thoughtful the little boy was of her.
However, that feeling only lasted for less than three seconds as Carl scratched his chin and went on, “Maybe the game will be done updating when we arrive home. Let's see if I can reach level ten.”
Upon hearing that, Rayna twitched the corners of her lips in amusement.
There was a Horbanian restaurant near the mall. Rayna brought Carl inside and found a table for both of them.
The moment she flipped open the menu, she saw the words “ice cream” on it, which made her salivate. Hence, she ordered a portion of the ice cream and waited for Carl to finish placing his order before returning the menu to the server.
“I need to go to the restroom.”
Carl waved his hand. “Sure. I'll watch over the stuff.”
As soon as Rayna left, Carl pulled out his phone and sent Curtis a text using WhatsApp. It read: Mr. Curtis, are you available?
Curtis' reply came almost instantly: What's up?
Seeing that, Carl took pictures of the new clothes and Rayna's bag on the chair and sent them to Curtis, followed by another text: I noticed Ms. Rayna was in a bad mood today, so I brought her out to take a break. Am I a good boy?
Curtis: You are, but her body can't take it if you shop for too long. She's pregnant, remember?
Carl: I know. We'll be going home after our lunch. By the way, Mr. Curtis, what's a playboy?
However, there was no reply from Curtis for some time after Carl sent out that text.
Noting that, Carl asked: Why aren't you replying to me?
Curtis had no choice but to reply: Why are you asking me this? What did Rayna tell you?
Thus, Carl told Curtis everything that had happened that day, including the fact that Rayna brought him to an arcade and the part where he sold the dolls.
Curtis, who was in Faymon Group's building, felt relief wash over him when he read the text.
He thought Rayna had another problem with him.
Curtis: Oh, it's nothing. You'll be fine as long as you don't become a gamer in the future.
Carl stared at Curtis' reply in confusion, scratching his head.
Ms. Rayna says I might become a gamer, but Mr. Curtis doesn't want me to become one. This is so weird. Why are they saying different things?
In the meantime, Rayna walked down the corridor at the far end of the restaurant and pushed open the door of the restroom.
She was quite exhausted from the long shopping session. Hence, she did not notice that someone had been following her.
The moment she stepped into the restroom, the sound of footsteps and the slamming of the door sounded behind her. It gave her a terrible fright.
As soon as she turned around, she saw a figure lunge toward her.
“Rayna, return my child to me!” screamed the person while holding a gleaming knife.
Since Rayna was pregnant, it made moving around difficult for her. Even so, her reflexes were still quick.
When the assailant lunged at Rayna, she grabbed a mop from the pail nearby and swung it at the person's legs.
The assailant was instantly caught off guard and fell face down, crashing heavily on the tiles.
While the assailant was still on the ground, Rayna hurriedly made a beeline for the door and reached out for the lock before she even arrived.
To her dismay, the door did not unlock after several pulls.
The restroom door's lock was an older version that required users to pull at the lock. Unfortunately, the spring in the lock had rusted and caused the lock cylinder to be stuck. It made it difficult for Rayna to open it.